OAKLEY -- In a nation stunned by yet another high-profile, multiple-victim shooting rampage, this time it's the Bay Area in mourning, with the revelation that two of the three dead Marines -- the killer and one of the victims, both young, active-duty members of the corps -- are natives of the region.

Military crime investigators announced Saturday night that Pacifica's Sgt. Eusebio Lopez, who served in both Iraq and Afghanistan before becoming an instructor at the elite officer candidate school at Quantico, was the shooter. Before turning his weapon on himself, Lopez is said to have gunned down 19-year-old Lance Cpl. Sara CastroMata of Oakley and 23-year-old Jacob Wooley of Mississippi.

All three were pronounced dead in a staff barracks shortly after 10:30 p.m. Thursday, in what some unconfirmed reports described as the tragic end to an ill-fated love triangle. CastroMata's horror-struck family confirmed Sunday that she was friends with Lopez, but they had not heard of Wooley.

No official description of a relationship among the three or a motive for the shooting has been established. However, an anonymous senior military official at the Pentagon reportedly told the Washington Post that the shootings possibly stemmed from a romantic entanglement.

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Whatever the cause, it mattered little to the stunned family members at CastroMata's home Sunday, when they gathered around the young woman's beaming military portrait, lit candles and a bouquet of yellow roses. Nearby, an ominous dent was still visible on the living room wall where her father pounded his fist after military personnel delivered the terrible news in person at 3 a.m. Friday.

CastroMata served as a warehouse clerk after joining the Marines in 2011. Although she had not been deployed, she had been awarded the National Defense Service Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal and a Good Conduct Medal.

The family on Sunday said it had no indication of trouble at the base and struggled to make sense of the shooting.

"We hope God helps us with time and gives us strength to get stronger as a family," said her sister, Mariela Castro, 25.

Enjoyed kids

Raised in Guadalajara, Mexico, CastroMata came to Brentwood with her family in 2002 at age 9. She was quick to learn -- picking up English within six months -- and had a tender side. She enjoyed taking her 5-year-old niece to the park and for ice cream, worked with children at science summer camps and volunteered to help special needs students while at Liberty High School in Oakley.

She graduated with honors in 2011 and enlisted in the Marines in 2011 so she could pay her own way through college, even though her father wanted to pay for it, the family said. After boot camp in South Carolina, she was stationed at Quantico, in Virginia, about 35 miles from Washington, D.C.

"She knew how to comfort people," said her sister Gabriela Castro, 30. " She was brave ... full of dreams."

Her parents, Isaac Castro and Maria Mata, plan to fly to Washington, D.C., this week to bring back to Oakley the daughter whose last name was a combination from her parents. Funeral arrangements are pending.

"She is always going to be loved and remembered," said Gabriela Castro.

Across the bay in Pacifica at the home of Sgt. Lopez's great-grandfather and namesake, reporters were brusquely turned away from the simple one-story on a steep hill overlooking the sea. A flag in front of the house flew at half-staff. The mood in the entire area was stern, as even neighbors turned media away from the block.

Lopez, who officials say died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, specialized as a machine-gunner and had earned 11 ribbons, commendations and medals. He joined the Marines in 2006 before being deployed to the wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Lopez's great-grandfather told reporters the younger Eusebio had participated in anti-piracy missions at sea and had been posted to Quantico for about a year.

Lengthy investigation

According to a statement released Sunday by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, which is investigating the shooting, all three Marines were assigned to Officer Candidates School at the Marine Corps Base Quantico. The school tests prospective Marine officers in training programs described as "more demanding than any you've experienced before" -- including endurance hikes of up to 12 miles in full gear, an elevated obstacle course named "Tarzan" and combat simulation.

The shooting is expected to be a lengthy inquiry.

Cpl. Wooley, 23, of Guntown, Miss., was a field radio operator who joined the Marine Corps in 2010. Wire reports described him as a "warm-hearted country boy from the South" who grew up and preached in the Pentecostal church.

Tiffany Wood, a schoolmate of Wooley's in the small town of Corinth, in northeast Mississippi, said the shooting confused her. "Jacob had no enemies. He was such a sweetheart," she said. "You couldn't stay mad at him. He would say something to make you laugh or make you grin."